we sailed 15 miles north from Virgin Gorda to the flat, quiet island of Anegada. the seas were rough and the winds hit 48 knots (i remember when 25 knots on the way to buck island used to scare me!). a tiiiny bit of seasickness ensued. and our entire bucket of alcohol bottles slid right off the counter and crashed onto the catamaran floor! but luckily it fell on the only piece of carpet on the boat so the only casualty was one wine bottle! the boys were just glad it wasn't their rum...

when it was over, the end destination was well worth it all.

all the other Virgin Islands were created from volcanic activity (which is pretty rad) and are therefore really mountainous and lush. Anegada, on the other hand, is all FLAT coral and limestone. so sailing in, all we could see was a row of tiny little trees that appeared to be growing right out of the sea! it was wild!

we spent two calm days and nights around Anegada. our first day, we took a cab across the entirety of the island to it's popular beach. we saw feral cows and donkeys and goats (oh my!), and even some pink flamingos from afar. (we were more interested in dipping our bodies in that beautiful water as soon as possible than seeing flamingos up close.)

the island seemed eerily quiet to me, so i asked our cabbie if it was always like that. he said yes, and he loves it. the population is only a little over 200, so it's a very tight-knit community. he waved and/or talked to every local we passed by.

on our second day, we digny'd out to another secluded beach to go lobster diving. but, those monster winds had churned up the sea too much and the visibility was awful. we had fun playing baseball with driftwood and coconuts instead.

we hung two hammocks on the back deck of the boat and took turns relaxing in them. the hammock at the stern was tied to the dingy rack, so we lowered it and dangled over the water. that was maybe my favorite moment of our entire trip :)

in the evenings, we made each other rum drinks and practiced tying bowline knots while barrhett played the guitar he brought. the sunsets were extra surreal here because there was nothing obstructing our view. nothing but deep blue ocean for miles and miles and miles.

if you've ever thought, "i just want to escape to a serene little island and not ever be bothered with society or 'real life' again," this might be the perfect place to do it.